Go to the temple and tell your father that you have passed the university exam

Ba Ko Nghiep died in 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that struck Ho Chi Minh City. Without his father, even though family life was much more difficult, he still decided to go to the lecture hall because “when he was alive, he always wished for you.” “Boys have to go to college.”

I remember the promise I made to dad

Just some time ago, father’s second death anniversary passed. Two years ago, right in the middle of the pandemic, Nghiep’s grandfather still had to go to the hospital for dialysis three times a week and unfortunately fell ill and had to be hospitalized for treatment.

Both your father and grandmother also became infected while caring for your grandfather, then were sent to quarantine for treatment.

One by one the members of that small apartment also became ill and everyone overcame it. Only Nghiep is not infected, so he helps family members and regularly calls to ask about his father’s health in the quarantine area.

Suddenly one day, my son’s text message was sent a long time ago but my dad did not reply. A series of messages and calls from Nghiep were sent incessantly, waiting in vain. You are extremely worried due to the feeling of insecurity, but your other aunt reassures your father that there is nothing wrong. But after a few days, his other aunt called Nghiep into his mother and younger brother’s room to talk.

“When I walked into the room and saw everyone crying, I immediately realized that my worries were coming true. My family received the news that my father had passed away due to COVID-19. My My mind was blank, I felt like I was falling into a lake.” Karma tells.

But Nghiep remembers that a few days ago, when the apartment building had not yet been blocked off, his father would still drive motorcycle taxis to earn money. One day, my father came home late and saw his son reading and stopped to remind him to do his chores quickly and go to bed early to ensure his health. At that time we had to study online but both Naghip brothers did not have computers so we had to study with old phones and iPads.

“Dad still told me to try to save money and buy a computer for her studies. Who would have thought that both dad and grandma would have to go into quarantine for treatment because her illness was getting worse. When grandma just Until I came back, the whole family confessed that they had found a jar of my father’s ashes. I am sure I will never forget that horrific image,” Nghiep said, crying as she tried to suppress the pain. Are doing.

Study so you can take care of your mother and younger siblings

This virus not only took away Nghiep’s father but also Nghiep’s grandfather forever. When you heard the news of your father’s death, the feeling of emptiness and helplessness stayed with you. But instead of being depressed like everyone else at home, Nghiep told himself to try to study well.

Because only then can you help your mother take care of your younger brother when his father passes away and he is only in the fourth grade, and fulfill your father’s desire to see his son go to college while he is alive. Can also complete.

Understanding that his mother’s salary as a worker would make it more difficult to take care of his two brothers’ education, Nghiep is self-taught, and if he does not understand, he will tutor friends or Will benefit by asking teachers. Classes other than English in a school. Center near home.

At the end of 12th grade, your average score in all subjects reached 9.1, and you stood third in the class. You enter the university with scores from the Qualification Assessment Examination conducted by Ho Chi Minh City National University.

Nghiep’s mother – Mrs. Lam Thi Thanh Hien – worked as a worker at Pouyeuen Company in Binh Tan District, so she had to leave home early to start her shift, so she raised her youngest from another aunt. The son had to be asked every time to take him to school. Day. Every day he doesn’t have to go to school, Nghiep takes his younger brother and the two brothers study and play together. Without her husband, Hien’s mother struggled to care for her two children at the same time.

The small apartment on the 5th floor of an apartment complex in District 5 (HCMC) is living space for all nine people, including the grandmother, another aunt, husband and wife and uncle’s two children, and Nghiep’s parents and children. Mrs. Ngu Hanh (69 years old) – Nghiep’s grandmother – can speak only limited Vietnamese, but said she was very happy when she heard that her grandson was going to university.

She is also old and weak, and has no source of income, but she said that her children work together and contribute so that she can take care of the food and expenses of the entire family, so she can help her grandchildren- Will try to save something to take care of her granddaughters. .Learn.

She said there was nothing to eat at home, but he told her that she had to study to make a future. She smiled and tried to handle it, but life would be fine because she really wanted her children and grandchildren to study well as she wanted, being an experienced person who had participated in revolutionary activities in the past.